Category — w. Most Recent Stuff

DISNEY WORLD NEXT WEEK: DECEMBER 19 TO DECEMBER 27, 2015

The material below details next week’s Disney World operating hours, Extra Magic Hours, parades, and fireworks.

The same stuff is in the graphic, but organized by park, not by topic. For more on December 2015 at Walt Disney World, click here.

Note that typos happen, and schedules change! If something seems odd, or if you want to double check, use the calendar links near the bottom to get the latest official Disney World scoop.

OPERATING HOURS AT WALT DISNEY WORLD 12/19/-12/27/2015

The Magic Kingdom will be open 8a-1a every day

Epcot will be open from 9a-10.30p 12/19 through 12/25, and 8a-10.30p 12/26 and 12/27

Disney’s Hollywood Studios will be open 9a-11p 12/19 through 12/24, and 8a-12MN 12/25 through 12/27

Disney’s Animal Kingdom will be open 8a-7p 12/19 through 12/24, 8a-8.30p 12/25, and 8a-9p 12/26 and 12/27

EXTRA MAGIC HOURS AT WALT DISNEY WORLD 12/19/-12/27/2015

Saturday 12/19 Morning:  Magic Kingdom and Hollywood Studios Evening: none

Sunday 12/20 Morning:  Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom Evening: none

Monday 12/21 Morning: Magic Kingdom  Evening: none

Tuesday 12/22 Morning: Magic Kingdom and Epcot Evening:  none

Wednesday 12/23 Morning:  Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom  Evening:  Magic Kingdom

Thursday 12/24 Morning: Magic Kingdom Evening: Hollywood Studios

Friday 12/25 Morning:  Magic Kingdom Evening: Epcot

Saturday 12/26 Morning:  Magic Kingdom, Hollywood Studios  Evening: none

Sunday 12/27  Morning: Magic Kingdom  Evening: Hollywood Studios

PARADES AT WALT DISNEY WORLD 12/19/-12/27/2015

The Magic Kingdom:

• Afternoon Festival of Fantasy Parade: 12 noon and 3.30p every day
• Evening Main Street Electrical Parade: 9.30 and 11.30p every day

FIREWORKS AT WALT DISNEY WORLD 12/19-12/27/2015

Wishes at the Magic Kingdom: 8p every day

Illuminations at Epcot: 10.30p every day

Fantasmic at Disney’s Hollywood Studios: 7 and 8.30p 12/19 through 12/24; 7, 8.30 and 10.30p 12/25 through 12/27

Symphony in the Stars at Disney’s Hollywood Studios: 11p 12/19 through 12/24; 12MN 12/25 through 12/27

SHOW SCHEDULES FOR WALT DISNEY WORLD 12/19/-12/27/2015

See Steve Soares’ site here. Click the park names at its top for show schedules.

LONG RANGE WEATHER FORECAST FOR WALT DISNEY WORLD 12/19/-12/27/2015

See this for forecasts.

DISCLAIMER

Everything is subject to change and typos! Check the Disney Calendars for updates and official schedules. These calendars can be found by clicking the following links:

• Magic Kingdom Calendar
• Hollywood Studios Calendar
• Animal Kingdom Calendar
• Epcot Calendar

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REFURB SCHEDULE FOR THE CABINS AT FORT WILDERNESS

Updated as of April 22, 2016

• Loop 2800 is closed for refurb, and expected to re-open in early March
• Cabins have been removed from Loop 2100, and it’s expected that this loop will be convered to premium campsites
• All other loops are done

UPDATE ON THE FORT WILDERNESS CABIN REFURBISHMENT

Disney is in the midst of refurbing the Cabins at Fort Wilderness, a refurb that mostly significantly improves the livability of these cute buildings.

As of the end of January 2016, the refurb of Cabins in loops 2200, 2300, 2400 and 2600 was complete.

The hope is to complete the refurb in the rest of the Fort Wilderness Cabin loops, except 2100, by the end of April.

For the moment, loop 2100 is being held out of the refurb as Disney considers whether to leave this loop as cabins, convert it to campsites–perhaps pull through–or even try something more mysterious.

The map above has a red box around the Cabin loops (1100, 1200 and 1700 are NOT cabin loops but rather artifacts of my lousy powerpoint skills) so you can see how the position of 2100, at the top left of the box, might make it intriguing as campsites.

I’ve published a complete photo tour and updated floor plan of these renovated Cabins that begins here, but here’s the key changes of the refurb:

CHANGES TO THE BACK BEDROOM AT THE REFURBED CABINS AT DISNEY’S FORT WILDERNESS RESORT

The bed in the back bedroom is now a queen rather than a full bed, and the wall to wall carpet here is gone, replaced by the same wooden floors elsewhere in the cabin.

The bunk beds are unchanged–still 66 inches by 36 inches, and sleeping a little shorter than 66 inches because of the framing.

CHANGES TO THE KITCHEN AT THE REFURBED CABINS AT DISNEY’S FORT WILDERNESS RESORT

In the kitchen, the oven is gone, the stove is now just two burners, and the appliances and sink have moved around a bit.

Instead of a separate oven and microwave, there’s now an object that claims to be a bit of both–a full microwave, with oven-ish capabilities.

Above is the labeling of the microwave’s ovenly charm. The last line promises a reference guide, which I could not find in our cabin.

This letter from Disney notes some diminished capabilities in the ovenabilty of the microwave, but is a bit vague.  Perhaps it can no longer make the sideline throw…

In late January 2016 I went all Pillsbury Bake-Off on this oven, to figure out what it can really do and what the “limited cooking/baking capability” noted in the letter really means. A report on the results of my putting the new Fort Wilderness oven through its paces is here.

This was our fourth stay in the Cabins, and we’ve never used more than two burners at once, nor have we used the oven for anything other than frozen pizza. So if you are like us, you will find that the kitchen refurb just makes it a little easier to work at the sink, which used to be in the corner.

If however, you are a heavy oven or burner user, then book loop 2100 to get the un-refurbed kitchens there.

CHANGES TO THE LIVING ROOM AT THE REFURBED CABINS AT DISNEY’S FORT WILDERNESS RESORT

The big change in the living room is that the full-sized Murphy bed is gone, and has been replaced by a queen-sized sofa bed.

The space where the Murphy bed used to be now holds the TV and a set of much-needed dresser drawers. The couch has moved to the other side of the room, and the cute little kids table has been replaced with an easy chair.

The queen sized sofa bed has a 5 inch deep cushion, and is quite comfortable. Its position on the side wall means that unlike the old Murphy bed, access is easy on both sides.

So this refurb, frankly, is mostly positive.  The two full beds (in the back and Murphy beds) are now queens; the living room bed is more accessible, and so is the kitchen sink.

The loss of two burners and the oven diminishment will matter to some, but not others.

A full photo tour of the refurbed cabins and updated floor plan begins here!

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My imaginary internet friend Joe Black gave me the heads up that the new Jungle Cruise-themed restaurant in Adventureland at the Magic Kingdom Skipper Canteen began soft open today, so I went over for a look around.

The restaurant is themed as the old Jungle Cruise skipper’s lounge and dining area–and also as the private dining room of Alberta Falls, daughter of founder Albert Falls.

It’s located just inside Adventureland.

Here’s part of the menu.

The lovely and hilarious Annie gave me a guided tour of Skipper Canteen.

There’s three dining areas. I don’t quite have the words right, but there’s the main dining room:

…a room hidden behind a secret door in a bookcase that was Alberta Falls’ private dining room :

And a third room that includes much better birds than The Enchanted Tiki Room:

Fun details abound:

I’ll clean up the photos and post more later, but I wanted to get this news about Skipper Canteen being open  out now in case you are in the Magic Kingdom one of these days and want to stop by!

“Soft open,” by the way, means it may or not be open when you come by. I asked Annie when the opening would be real and Skipper Canteen would begin taking reservations. “The ways of the jungle are mysterious and not to be predicted,” she said…

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Note 3/5/2017: The Wilderness Lodge refurb should be complete by mid-summer 2017. See this.

Note 1/31/16: The construction impact on the Wilderness Lodge itself will be much more extensive than implied below.  See this.

Construction kicked off at the Wilderness Lodge and Villas in late 2015 and is expected to extend (at least) through 2016.

The largest impact will be on the Villas, but around 20% of rooms at the Wilderness Lodge itself may see diminished views, and weekday noise from construction might affect all rooms at both.

Wilderness Lodge guests who book courtyard-view rooms should largely be isolated from view issues.

Villa guests who avoid Bay Lake views will be better off than those who don’t–but since these rooms are not directly bookable as such, Villas guests will be facing more of a challenge.

The images below are from December 2015 from the top floor of the Bay Lake side of the Villas.

Above: from the old Villa pool area to the beach.

Above: from the old Villa pool area to the Wilderness Lodge.

CONSTRUCTION AT THE WILDERNESS LODGE

Most construction is between the southeast edge of the Wilderness Lodge and the northwest side of the Villas, with another smaller area affected at the northwest side of the Lodge.

See the map (click it to enlarge it), where using my sophisticated image skills I’ve put blue boxes in the affected areas.

On the map, the Lodge has the green roof, and the Villas the red roof.

Major construction will include removing and re-doing the smaller pool outside of the Villas (the main pool in the middle of the Lodge wings was updated in 2014 and will remain open), adding a restaurant between the Villas and the beach, and adding bungalows along the shores.

As a result, the small pool, beach, boat rentals and playground on this side will be closed.

This area as of December 2015 is all screened off with construction fabric. Interestingly, these are printed with woods, and are somewhat see-through.

The see-through means you can tell better than in most recent Disney projects what is going on.

For example, the above is not one of my usual lousy photos, but rather the result of holding my lens right up against the construction fabric.

Well, I guess to be precise it is one of my usual lousy photos, but this time at least I have an excuse…

Main Lodge guests who book courtyard views will largely escape the construction.

Views on the Lodge side between the Lodge and the Villas will be affected, and the beach and marina are closed.  Below is the construction wall by the beach:

There will also be construction on the far side of the Lodge, but as of December 2015 all that has happened here is some preliminary watershed protection:

It will be a lot harder for Villas guests to avoid, as while one can request a “woods” view at the Villas that might avoid the construction, this is not a separately bookable category.

So despite the panic out there on the internet, any first-time Lodge visitors who can afford the upcharges of the Courtyard views (about $100/night, depending on the year and season) should not much worry about this construction.

We had a courtyard view in our December 2015 Wilderness Lodge stay, and thus zero impact from the construction other than a note left in our room (top of page) and some fun pins:

Villas guests will have a harder time.

About half of Villas rooms will have views dominated by construction, so it will be much harder to avoid.

I’d advise avoiding the Villas at the Wilderness Lodge at least until we all have a better sense of how these rooms feel.

Many Villas guests are already re-booking, some with some pretty nice arrangements–see this thread on co-author Josh‘s site.

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As my co-author Josh noted here, Amazon is offering a discount code that lets you get 25% off the 2016 edition of the best reviewed Disney World guide book series, ever, through December 14th.

Join the more than four happy readers of The easy Guide to Your First Walt Disney World Visit (that’s my Niecelets and their Boy Toys at Shades of Green, where I’ll be checking in tomorrow).

You can even get the book delivered to your hotel room just in time for the meet-ups on Tuesday!

Click here to get to the book, and do regular (not One Click) checkout.

Then in the usual place for discount codes on the check-out page enter code: 25OFFBOOK at checkout. (This seems to work only for US-based accounts by the way–not our choice!)

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Welcome back to Fridays with Jim Korkis! Jim, the dean of Disney historians and author of Jim’s Gems in The easy Guide, writes about Walt Disney World history every Friday on yourfirstvisit.net.

FORGOTTEN DISNEY WORLD HOLIDAY TRADITIONS

By Jim Korkis

At one time, Walt Disney had several holiday traditions that were unique to the Florida resort, including the Jolly Holidays Dinner Show and The Glory and the Pageantry of Christmas show.

Despite their huge popularity with WDW guests, they disappeared before the turn of the current century and were not replaced with any similar option.

“Those Jolly, Jolly, Jolly Holidays! Those Holly, Holly, Holly Jolly Days! All the decorations! Many celebrations! Many happy faces! Cozy fireplaces! Let the bells ring out now! Everyone sing out now!”

The Jolly Holidays Dinner Show at Disney’s Contemporary Resort was performed from 1992 through the 1998 Christmas season when it was discontinued. The Fantasia Ballroom in the resort’s convention center was converted into an immersive theater-in-the-round setting with more than a hundred talented performers in a musical extravaganza. Besides the raised main stage, there were several smaller stages on the outer perimeter of the tables.

Performers spilled out into the audience, as well. The show took place at “Holiday Village” where the patriarch of the town known simply as “Papa” (and looking a bit like a grey-bearded Sebastian Cabot with a deep gravely voice) recalled his memories of the holidays.

Mickey, Minnie, Pluto, Goofy and Chip ’n’ Dale cavorted with perky singers and dancers. The Country Bears dropped by to play a tune before they went back out into the snow to play. There was even a short version of the Nutcracker Suite featuring the hippos and ostriches from Fantasia. Some scenes seemed to be borrowed from other shows including the tap dancing horses for the sleigh ride, the marching toy soldiers and Santa Goofy making an appearance.

In addition, guests enjoyed an all-you-can-eat feast of fresh-cooked turkey, honey-baked ham and other holiday treats. It was a hugely popular show, often completely sold out even at a premium price, although significant changes were made in its final year that did not please everyone.

For more than fifteen years in the 1980s and 1990s, the Disney Village Marketplace (now known as Disney Springs) ushered in the season with another holiday gem, a performance of The Glory and the Pageantry of Christmas.

It was literally a traditional “living nativity scene” enactment that was originally performed at the open air pavilion known as the Captain’s Tower (now Pin Traders) but soon moved to the larger venue of the Waterfront Dock Stage. The shopping area nearby was decorated to suggest a recreation of the little town of Bethlehem.

It was such a popular and dignified show that guests did not mind standing in line for hours for a chance to see it. “The Christmas Story”, narrated by Kevin Miles (whose deep baritone voice could also be heard in venues like Epcot’s Voices of Liberty and Magic Kingdom’s Dapper Dans) and interspersed with Christmas songs, was amazingly simple.

Mary and Joseph approach the manger and she reveals a child wrapped in swaddling clothes. The shepherds appear. The angels appear, rising up from behind the manger. There was a total cast of 36 performers.

The narration told how the shopkeepers of the village brought gifts including cheese from the dairyman and breads from the baker. Sadly, one little orphan child had no gift to bring. To the strains of the song “Little Drummer Boy,” a small child walks up to the manger and encouraged by Mary, plays his drum.

There was no official announcement of the reason for the show’s cancellation although many suspected that it was Disney’s attempt to remove any specific religious connotation surrounding the holiday, but there were rumors that it had grown so popular that large audiences caused logistical challenges. There were also grumblings that the show was not substantially increasing sales at the nearby shops.

*  *  *  *  *

Thanks, Jim. And come back next Friday for even more from Jim Korkis!

In the meantime, check out his books, including Secret Stories of Walt Disney World: Things You Never You Never Knew, which reprints much material first written for this site, and The Vault of Walt: Volume 4, and his contributions to The easy Guide to Your First Walt Disney World Visit, all published by Theme Park Press.

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